Let Me Float With You
by huffleclaw22
Summary: Seamus Finnigan can see something in Luna Lovegood that no one else can. Post BoH.


**a/n: I just LOVE the Seamus/Luna pairing...especially b/c they both have Irish accents :) JKR owns all!**

**...this IS a Seamus/Luna fic, it just starts kinda slow...but it gets good towards the end I swear! It starts the way it does to build background.**

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The Battle of Hogwarts had officially ended mere hours ago. Staff, students, and the remaining Order members cleaned up the castle grounds. All of those injured in battle were being tended to in the hospital wing, while a few student volunteers gathered all of those who had been killed.

All of the survivors had showered all of the blood and dirt off of themselves and changed clothes. Seamus Finnigan walked slowly down the crumbling stairs towards the Great Hall. He could see a group of his friends huddled together near the open corridor leading out to the courtyard.

"Hey Seamus," Neville waved him over. Seamus blinked in the bright sunshine, it was different seeing Neville without all the blood on his face.

"Hi," he said, joining them.

"Hey mate," Dean said.

"Hey," Ernie MacMillan sighed tiredly.

"Some battle," Parvati commented, wiping her eyes. Lavender, who had just been released from the hospital wing with a big scar on her left shoulder from the werewolf, lay across her best friend's lap. She wasn't saying anything, just staring at the ceiling, and occasionally sniffling.

"Yeah, it was," Susan Bones choked out. Hannah Abbott just sniffed.

Now that everyone had had the chance to freshen up, none of them looked like they had ever participated in a battle at all, except for a few minor scrapes and Lavender's shoulder. There was still overwhelming evidence that the battle had occurred though, by the sad looks on their faces.

Seamus himself had a small scratch near his nose, and he'd changed into a pair of jeans and a Kenmare Kestrels t-shirt. Neville had a couple of faint scratch marks on his face, and had changed into a pair of khakis and a Hogwarts sweatshirt.

Dean didn't have any of his own clothes since he'd been on the run, so he wore a pair of black sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt that Seamus lent him, he had a cut below his right eye and on his chin. Ernie had some scrapes below his left ear and cheek area and one above his right eye, he was wearing a Hufflepuff sweatshirt and khakis.

Parvati had changed into some jeans and a purple zip up sweatshirt, she had a small scratch on the bridge of her nose. Lavender wore her pajamas from the hospital wing so water from the ice-pack on her shoulder wouldn't drip on her good clothes.

Susan had a small cut on her forehead, and had changed into a yellow, pink, and gray striped sweater and a flowy brown skirt. Hannah had a small scrape above her left eyebrow, and she'd changed into a white Hufflepuff crest t-shirt with a flowy knee-length teal colored skirt.

It was a solemn scene before him. It seemed as if almost everyone had lost someone either during the battle or sometime before during one of the Wizarding Wars. Neville's parents were insane and locked up in St. Mungo's for the rest of their lives due to torturing at the end of the first war, Dean's dad was killed during the first war, most Susan's family had been murdered in the first war, and Hannah had lost her mum during her sixth year because of the second war. Not to mention all of the friends and teachers they lost during the battle.

"I can't believe it's really over," Seamus found himself saying.

"Me neither," Neville agreed, picking at a pebble near his feet.

"Is it weird that I'm not happy?" Seamus asked them, looking around. "I didn't lose anyone in this battle, well...no one extremely close to me that is, yet I feel so empty inside. I feel like I should be grateful...but I feel guilty instead," he said.

"I mean none of us are really happy mate, we're sleep deprived and just witnessed a horrific battle scene," Dean reminded him. Ernie nodded.

Seamus shook his head, that wasn't what he'd meant. Hannah crawled closer to Neville and buried her face in his chest, to which he responded by softly pecking the top of her head and rubbing his nose against hers. Ernie and Susan just held each other in silence. Dean put a comforting arm around Parvati.

Seamus considered trying to comfort Lavender, as they had always been good friends, but she shot him a look that said she didn't wish to be bothered with. Not really caring to witness the snog-fest that was clearly about to occur between Neville and Hannah, he decided to get up and go for a walk around the castle ruins.

Just as he got to his feet, he noticed Loony Luna Lovegood had been peering inside, watching them. Seeing Seamus, she sprinted away quickly. Now Seamus had no choice but to follow her, his curiosity always got the better of him.

"Hey!" he yelled, running outside into the courtyard.

"I'm trying to catch a Blibbering Humdinger...shush or you'll scare it away!" Luna snapped, not turning around.

"What the bloody shite is that?" Seamus shouted, panting as he managed to catch up with her.

"Shh!" Luna hissed, ignoring his question. "I know there's one around here somewhere, it was injured during the battle, might be dead."

Seamus rolled his eyes, he knew that she was a crazy girl with very odd beliefs, but actually speaking to her was something different entirely. Despite being weirded out, he decided to play along. He had nothing better to do. "Maybe it's over there," he offered, pointing to the far end of the courtyard.

Luna stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you something. I've already found it, it's up in a cage in my dorm room...I was only pretending to look for it," she admitted.

"Why would you do that?" Seamus asked, confused.

"Because you saw me looking in the window..." Luna bit her lip.

"Yeah...so?" Seamus was still confused.

"I was spying on Neville," Luna said quietly, looking at her feet.

"Okay, and...?" Seamus didn't understand.

"I like Neville, but he already likes Hannah," Luna said sadly.

Seamus was a bit caught off guard, he never really thought of 'Loony' as a person with actual feelings before. Everyone just saw her as the weird girl who didn't seem to have real feelings, just a whole lot of loony.

"I know you think I'm just the weird girl with all the invisible magical creatures floating around her, but I have feelings too you know, just like any other teenage girl in this school," Luna spoke up softly, seeming to reading his mind.

"O-Oh, yeah..." Seamus stuttered. He had to say he hadn't been expecting a confrontation like that.

"You look distracted Seamus, and very sad," Luna added, moving right on to the next subject.

"How do you know?" Seamus snapped, suddenly annoyed and angry at her for questioning his feelings.

"Well, you look it," Luna answered simply, not sounding offended in the least.

"Oh, sorry," Seamus mumbled.

"It's alright," Luna said. "So why are you upset?" she asked him, genuinely concerned.

"It just seems like I'm the only person here who hasn't lost someone really close to them, and I feel so guilty just standin' around alive watchin' everyone else grieve," Seamus explained, kicking some pebbles across the courtyard with his left foot.

Luna looked at him as if she were absorbing everything he was saying. Her deep gray eyes seemed to be reading his soul. "Well, that's a normal feeling. You have nothing to feel guilty about though, you aren't responsible for anyone's grief," she said after a few moments of silence.

Seamus stopped and looked at her, realizing that she was right. It also just hit him that she was one of the few people who understood how he was feeling. She was very wise, making it clear to him now why she was in Ravenclaw. "I guess you're right," he said. "I just feel bad."

Luna nodded. "It's natural that you would feel bad for your friends," she told him.

"Yeah," Seamus agreed.

"It's like the weather I suppose. When the sky and clouds are dark, it rains, it's like the clouds know that the sky wants to cry," Luna mused.

"You're just fulla interestin' metaphors, aren't ye Lovegood?" Seamus couldn't help but laugh.

"Well I wouldn't call it that, I'd say it's the truth. Wouldn't you?" Luna looked at him.

"I suppose I would," Seamus nodded. She did have an interesting perspective on the idea.

"Why did you chase after me?" Luna asked, switching topics again. Seamus swore he'd need running shoes to keep up with this conversation.

"I wanted to know why you were watchin' us and then ran away when I looked at'cha," he replied.

"I just wanted to know what it was that makes Neville so attracted to Hannah," Luna said. "You're his friend, do you know the reason?" she asked curiously.

Seamus was once again caught off guard. "I dunno...she's pretty...nice...loyal..." he shrugged.

Luna nodded along as he spoke. "Yes I suppose you're right. No one wants to date the weird girl," she spoke softly, sadly.

"You aren't weird Luna, you're just...different," Seamus said, shocking himself. He'd just said it, it wasn't something he'd planned, it just sort of came out.

"Still...it feels like no one really gets me...I have a few friends, yet I still feel so lonely," Luna told him. "The reason I liked Neville so much is because he's always so nice to me."

"Walk with me, down by the Black Lake," Seamus found himself saying, and he headed down towards the lake. Luna skipped after him.

They reached the lake and sat down on the hill overlooking it. "Are you from Ireland, Seamus?" Luna asked out of nowhere.

Seamus looked at her. "Yeah, I am. Why?" he asked.

"I noticed your accent, as you can probably tell, I have one too. My father was from Ireland, and growing up around him, I picked up the accent," Luna told him.

"Oh, cool. Yeah, it's a really beautiful place," Seamus mused, throwing a rock in the water, causing a splash and some ripples.

"I've never been, but I'd love to go sometime," Luna said, picking at some grass near her feet.

"You should, it's a lush green land full of all sorts of mythical creatures like Leprechauns and Far Darrigs. By me house, there's a beautiful seaside...sometimes it's cool to lay down on the hills and look up at the sky or out on the water, and it smells so fresh with fields fulla shamrocks," Seamus told her.

"It sounds lovely," Luna smiled, laying down on her back and kicking her shoes off.

"Going home will be a sight fer me sore eyes, after so much destruction and pain, it will be so nice and serene," Seamus said.

Luna turned her head to face him. "You know what, Seamus?" she piped up suddenly.

Seamus looked down at her. Her deep gray eyes staring intently into his bright blue ones. Her wispy platinum blonde hair sprawled out behind her head from laying down. Her pink and purple tie dye leggings and rainbow sparkly socks. Her 'I Heart Nargles' t-shirt. "What?" he asked, taking in all that made up Luna Lovegood.

"I think that Far Darrigs are just Nargles in disguise," Luna decided, grabbing a handful of grass in her hand, and throwing it up in the air so it showered all over her.

"What's a Nargle?" Seamus asked, throwing another rock in the water with a big splash.

"They're invisible creatures that sometmes like to hide in the mistletoe at Christmas time, and are very mischevious little thieves," Luna explained.

"Hmm...that does sound like a Far Darrig," Seamus agreed.

"Not many people believe that all these creatures exist, but daddy and I do. I think other people are afraid of them," Luna said. Seamus nodded.

"That could be," he said.

Luna picked up a wee ladybug that had crawled onto her hand. "See this ladybug here...can you imagine a world where you could see it but no one else could?" she asked him.

Seamus stared at the tiny insect in the palm of Luna's hand. "No...I can't," he replied. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt for thinking of her as the weird girl and laughing about her with his friends. If she really believed in all of those creatures, that was her choice, and people shouldn't have the right to make fun of her for it.

"That's not nice people makin' fun of ya," he added quietly, looking away.

"I don't mind it all the time," Luna replied, picking at more grass.

"How do you not mind it all the time?" Seamus couldn't help but ask. He knew if people constantly made fun of him, he'd get angry.

"Well I distance myself because I expect those types of reactions, to be perfectly honest, I really don't care all that much what people think anymore," Luna told him.

Seamus nodded, he had to admire the girl, odd as she was. "Good fer you," he said.

Luna gave him that faraway smile of hers. "I like you Seamus, you aren't like many others I've met. Harry's lot accepts me as a friend, but they still think me a bit wacky, but you actually seem to be interested in a world beyond this one in which we live," she said.

Seamus grinned. "Maybe it's the Far Darrig in me," he said with a laugh.

He couldn't help noticing how her hair sparkled in the sunlight, and how if you looked beyond her faraway voice and misty eyes, she was actually very pretty. She wasn't like any of the other girls he'd been attracted to before.

"So much ruin..." Luna spoke up suddenly. "Yet amidst all of this death and destruction, there's a strange beauty that lies here, on these castle ruins," she said in her whimsical tone.

"What's that?" Seamus asked curiously.

"It's so beautiful in fact, that even the sun is shining. Don't you see Seamus? It's so beautiful it even made the sky happy enough to put on it's sunny smile and take away all the dark misty clouds. I know you can't see it, but I can. Most people can't look deep enough into a metaphorical sense of reality. I suppose that's why I'm in Ravenclaw..." she continued.

"What is this beauty only you can see?" Seamus wanted to know.

"Well others can see it, but only if they are willing to look deep enough, to understand things on a more complicated level," Luna said.

"I'm willing," Seamus said.

"It's the beauty of friendship and comraderie. We all put aside our differences and fought together for a common goal. Now in this time that we grieve and need each other most, we are all here for each other. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Even a few stray Slytherins in the mix. Teachers and students. Order members and staff. We're all human here," Luna explained.

Seamus took a minute to fully absorb what Luna had said to him. He realized just what a beautiful truth it was. "You're right, it's amazing," he agreed.

Luna gently grabbed his hand and smiled at him. "Yes, it is," she said.

"Do you still have feelings for Neville?" Seamus found himself asking.

"You know, not anymore," Luna admitted, looking at him.

"I'm glad," Seamus grinned, leaning in and kissing her.

The sun was rising ever higher over Hogwarts castle, and maybe it was the nargles or maybe it wasn't, but it seemed to be twinkling just a wee bit brighter than it normally did.

As the kiss ended, Luna smiled at Seamus, and skipped off down the shore. At first Seamus thought it was a trick of the eye; Luna seemed to be...floating. However, as he looked closer, he realized it wasn't a trick of the eye at all.

"Wait...Luna! Let me float with you!" he yelled, running after her.

"Anyone can float!" Luna called back. "If you trust the Blibbering Humdingers to carry you, that is!"

Seamus grinned.


End file.
